Sailing Florencevideo
Budget Boat Makeover Begins | Sailing Florence Ep.231
May 15, 2026 · 25 min · 61K views
Woman holds refinished wooden door in shed
What this video covers
Matt and Amy are stripping and refurbishing the interior of Florence, their 1985 Oyster Marine 37, after nine years of continuous liveaboard use and circumnavigation left the woodwork, varnish, and galley surfaces badly deteriorated.0:06 The primary problems are broken varnish seals causing black mold on veneer surfaces throughout the boat, and a 1985 Formica galley worktop that is cracked, lifting, and leaking water into the plywood substrate, with rot concentrated around sink screw holes in the corners.1:07 After removing the sink and laminate, Matt finds the underlying ply in better condition than expected and decides to replace like-for-like with new Formica rather than solid-surface material — citing weight (the solid surface would add 28 kg), cost (roughly ten times more expensive), and lack of workshop tools with four weeks until departure.6:18 A rotten section around the sink gets cut out and replaced with a marine ply off-cut to be epoxy-coated.11:31 For the woodwork, Matt strips varnish by scraping on the boat and using paint stripper with a tinfoil cover on removed doors, then treats black water-stained grain with oxalic acid, fills damage with color-matched two-part filler, and applies thinned gloss varnish as a first coat.18:48 Veneer surfaces require extra care to avoid sanding through.1:31
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